_Cross through the woods of Saint-Gond._ Sign-posts indicate that military graves exist in the thickets, and recall the hand-to-hand struggles which took place here during the fluctuations of the battle round Soizy. _Descend again towards the marshes_ between the "Crête du Poirier" on the left and the heights on Montgivroux on the right. Before arriving at Oyes there appears on the left a chalky road with a quarry on its right, leading to the top of a hill. [Illustration: Courjeonnet Petit Morin Petit Morin Coizard Toulon-la-Montagne II. +PANORAMA OF THE MARSHES AND THEIR NORTH BANK+] [Illustration: Broussy-le-Grand Mont-Août Reuves Oyes III. +PANORAMA OF THE MARSHES AND THEIR SOUTH BANK+] _Follow this road_, on the left of which are remains of trenches. _150 yards from its commencement may be seen an interesting view, of which the photographs on pp. 170-171 give fragments._ The summit on which we now stand is connected by a little valley with the summit of the Poirier seen on panorama I. These two heights constituted on the north the advanced line of defence of the heights of Mondement. Panorama IV. shows the position of Mondement which will be visited in due course. The castle and the church may be perceived. The road in the foreground, in the centre of this panorama, is the one which we took to climb the hill. [Illustration: Allemant Woods Mondement Castle Mondement Church IV. +PANORAMA OF MONDEMENT+] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE PRIORY OF SAINT-GOND] The line of the Poirier was the object of furious combats. The "tirailleurs" of the Moroccan Division had dug trenches there in order to protect themselves against the withering fire of heavy and light artillery which the Germans directed from the north of the marshes. When the Germans had succeeded in crossing the Morin by the bridge at Saint-Prix, they penetrated into Botrait woods (panorama I.) and attacked the Poirier. They drove the sharp-shooters from the summit, and then from the southern slopes where the latter had made a stand. On September 8 a bayonet charge brought the Poirier again into the possession of the sharp-shooters, but the German artillery rendered the position untenable, and they were obliged to evacuate it and fall back on the heights of Mondement-Montgivroux. At the same time Blondlat's Brigade which held Oyes and Reuves (panorama III.), was thrown back on the Allemant Woods by superior forces which had managed to cross the marshes.